Local chapter to U.S. Uncut gathers to protest corporate America's tax policies

FLINT, Michigan — About 15 to 20 people gathered in front of the Mott Foundation Building on Saginaw Street to protest corporate America's tax breaks.

The group, U.S. Uncut, was protesting as part of a national movement to have the U.S. government restructure how corporate America is taxed, said Virginia Hamori-Ota, a protester and lecturer at the University of Michigan-Flint.

"We're out here to raise consciousness to our movement," the 52-year-old said.

The protesters gathered to protest the Bank of America, which did not pay income tax last year. They said that while lower- and middle-class families struggle to get by the fifth-largest corporation in the U.S. didn't have to pay up.

"Big companies like the Bank of America don't pay their taxes," said Robert Burach, a 20-year-old UM-Flint student who was one of the student leaders of the group.

Jerry Dubrowski, a spokesman for the Bank of America, said the bank didn't pay an income tax in the U.S. because it reported a loss, therefore there was no income to tax. It did, however, pay state and local taxes.

Saying the bank shirked its fiscal responsibilities is nonsense, he added.